Evan Klijn enters the new ERA with FLYSURFER, taking his passion for big air to even greater heights! Join the 22-year-old Dutch kitesurfer as he takes you behind the scenes of the ERA shoot in Cape Town and shares his experience joining the development process of this new big air kite. Read it here, exclusively in IKSURFMAG!

I'm Evan Klijn, and like many big air addicts, I come from Holland. When I was young, my dad took me to a popular windsurfing spot, where I first saw kitesurfing and saw these kiters jumping over me. From that moment on, I was completely hooked on the idea of being able to kite. My dad considered the sport too dangerous back then, so I had to wait a bit, but I couldn't think of anything other than kitesurfing.

I would watch old YouTube videos every day to keep myself busy until I was allowed to kite. I found this video, probably filmed with an old Nokia, of a kid in Brazil kitesurfing on a tiny lagoon with a power kite. I thought, I'm super young, but I can buy my own power kite and ride the rain puddles on the fields next to my house. So, I bought a power kite and grabbed the bodyboard out of the garage, and from then on, I was kitesurfing in puddles. Eventually, my dad said, okay, we need to take a real kitesurfing lesson, and that was that!

From the beginning, foil kites have always caught my attention. I don't know what it is about these kites or what I found so interesting about them, but I just knew they were the future. All I wanted to do was break records, and at the time, and still today, I firmly believe that FLYSURFER has the best and most passionate team out there to help me make this happen. They also have every quiver in their arsenal, from tube kites to foil kites. You name it; FLYSURFER has it. When I joined the team earlier this year, that was the primary decision for my change. I was not super interested in what the partnership would look like; I was just really looking forward to getting involved with the best brand out there. 

The ERA shoot was my first one with the FLYSURFER team, and I was stoked that the shoot would be happening in Cape Town, where the ERA was born and raised. It all came full circle from the first concept, early designs and prototypes, testing, and, finally, the product shoot. Cape Town is one of the best places in the world, and I've been coming back here every year since my first trip in 2019. The world-class conditions have pushed me to become more confident and familiar with strong conditions, combining them with technical tricks and big waves. There's no better place to show the full potential of the ERA!

For this shoot, we had myself, Gian Andrea Stagiotti from Switzerland, locals Julian Zens and Luke McGillewie (one of the designers of the ERA), and Brand Manager Christoph Hesina from Austria. Completing the team was the camera crew, Arkadiusz (Arek!) Kusalewicz and Marcin Piechowski.

We drove all over the Western Cape to find the best conditions and capture diverse scenery. But one of the best sessions of the trip was the sunset session at Kite Beach. With 45 knots, clear skies, a setting sunset, and clean wind, what else could you ask for? I remember being super overpowered on my nine and going for a doobie loop. The pull of the loop was so strong mid-air that the skin on my cheeks was being pulled to the back of my face because the G-forces were so intense!

The funniest moment of the trip was the day after the Rugby World Cup final between South Africa and New Zealand. The whole crew had gone out to watch the match and celebrate the Springboks' victory, and, as you can imagine, there were a few tired and hungover people in the group the next day. Still, we left the house before dawn to drive and find strong wind and golden light in Macassar. When we got to the spot, one of the camera guys got out of the car at 7 am and cracked open a beer like it was the most normal thing ever. Everybody had a proper laugh! The wind was perfect, so we all got on the water and had a blast, getting some nice shots for the product video.

The two-week window we had for the shoot was perfect, and sharing this time with a team who are all equally passionate and motivated to make it happen was just amazing. On the last day with our camera crew, we were so stoked that we were willing to drive six hours for a good 30-minute session. It wasn't even a question; Gian Andrea and I saw the forecast together and were already on our way. It was the perfect session to wrap up the trip, with flat water and strong wind. I'm super honoured to be part of this team and the shoot. Everybody had a blast, and we will remember it for a long time. Yeah, we drove a lot. We scored a lot, and it was all worth the effort.

Having Cape Town as the setting of this shoot was extra meaningful because it's the home of the ERA. If you want strong winds, light winds, dense winds, or not-so-dense winds, Cape Town offers everything and more. To be able to ride a kite that has been put to the test in all of these conditions? You know you have one of the best-tested kites in your hands, and that's super special. I am honoured to be part of this project and help launch such a fantastic product that will make so many people happy on the water. I always try to contribute to people having a good time, and this project undoubtedly does that.

Earlier this year, I joined the development team for the last round of ERA testing. At that time, I hadn't had a proper session on a tube kite in almost four months because I was so hooked on riding the SONIC foil kite, so I was pretty nervous about getting on a tube kite again. What if I didn't have the skills to match the kite or what FLYSURFER expected from me? But, after two or three hours of riding, I got comfortable and in the zone again, and at the end of the first day of riding, I was landing tricks I had never done before. 

I only experienced the end of the development cycle, so to be given a kite capable of doing the craziest stuff I've ever done on a kite, like double loops and double loop board offs, was exceptional. After that successful day of testing and riding, the question came, "Why are you not riding KOTA?" My answer was, "I didn't train enough to be able to get into KOTA." But, while I was answering this question, I was thinking... if I can get four or five more training sessions like this one, my level will be higher than ever. Unfortunately, between that trip and the video entry deadline for KOTA, there was not enough wind for me to train in Europe. No wind was to be found in Europe from Greece to the north side of Norway for a whole month. Even with the few clips we captured on that test trip, I was selected as a reserve rider for KOTA, but with what this kite is capable of, I'll definitely be going for it next year!

To see more riders getting on the ERA is a good feeling; it means more kiters are progressing their level at a pace that has never been achievable before because this kite is just so easy. The feedback I've been hearing is that the bar pressure is so nice and like nothing they've ever experienced before. The kite is the definition of an easy kite. You want to jump high? You send the kite, pull the bar, and you will go high. You want to do a kite loop? You send the kite, you loop the kite, and then you land. It's as easy as that.

In my opinion, the whole industry has moved forward to more expensive constructions, more expensive materials, and more expensive designs; you name it, everything has just become so much more expensive. This is what makes the ERA so unique. I would say it's still a standard kite in its materials but with many careful decisions about the design, quality, and construction. With that, it's by far the leading kite on the market in performance and quality at its price point. There's no need to get an expensive Aluula kite; you can ride the ERA and get the same performance as an Aluula kite. This is a breakthrough for big air, and keeping the sport accessible, and I'm proud to be part of it.

Videos

ERA - dare to dream big
ERA - Designer Talk with Luke Mcgillewie
By Evan Klijn

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